Maura Murphy
{{Short description|Irish writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use Irish English|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Maura Murphy
| image =
| image size =300px
| caption = Mary McNamee as a student (1950)
| birth_name = Mary McNamee
| birth_date = 6 September 1928
| birth_place = Clonmore, County Offaly
| death_date = 5 October 2005
| death_place =
| nationality = Irish
| occupation = Writer
}}
Maura Murphy, née McNamee (6 September 1928 – 5 October 2005) was an Irish writer. Her autobiography Don't Wake Me at Doyles became a surprise hit upon its publication in 2004.
Early life
Mary McNamee was born in Clonmore, near Edenderry, County Offaly, one of the seven children of John McNamee and Mary Ann Hannon McNamee. Her father was a labourer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1501407/Maura-Murphy.html|title=Maura Murphy|date=2005-10-24|work=The Telegraph|access-date=2020-03-12|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}} She left school at age 14.{{Cite web|url=https://www.headline.co.uk/contributor/maura-murphy/|title=Maura Murphy|date=2019-01-28|website=Headline Publishing Group|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-12}}
Career
Murphy worked as a domestic and in other part-time jobs; she kept a diary through much of her life, as she raised nine children. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1999, at age 70. She began writing her autobiography Don't Wake Me at Doyles shortly thereafter.{{Cite web|url=https://us.macmillan.com/author/|title=Maura Murphy {{!}} Authors|website=US Macmillan|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-12}} The book, though somewhat comical in tone, focuses on her life of hardship and poverty, and is critical of the Roman Catholic Church's stances on women, divorce, and contraception. It also includes diary entries by her adult children, as they visit during her illness.{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/maura-murphy-319479.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/maura-murphy-319479.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Maura Murphy|last=Adams|first=Bernard|date=2005-10-14|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2020-03-12}}
Murphy's autobiography was "a surprise best-seller" upon its publication in 2004. Publishers Weekly praised the book's "skillful storytelling and optimistic spirit" and called it a "hopeful, spunky sister to Angela's Ashes," the Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography of Frank McCourt.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-33791-9|title=Don't Wake Me at Doyles: A Memoir (review)|website=Publishers Weekly|access-date=2020-03-12}}
Private life
Maura McNamee married John Murphy in 1953; they moved to Birmingham in 1959, where he worked in a tire factory.{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/st-patricks-day-2005-an-accidental-author-2/|title=St. Patrick's Day 2005: An Accidental Author|date=2011-02-17|website=Irish Echo|access-date=2020-03-12}} They had nine children born between 1953 and 1963. Though their marriage was often unhappy and they separated several times, she and her husband maintained a life-long connection. John Murphy was present during Maura Murphy's death in 2005, in Birmingham, aged 76 years.{{Cite web|url=https://notices.irishtimes.com/death/murphy/2373103|title=MURPHY : Death notice|website=Irish Times Family Notices|access-date=2020-03-12}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Maura Murphy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=beEKAgAAQBAJ&q=Maura+McNamee+Murphy Don't Wake Me at Doyles] (Headline Book Publishing 2005). {{ISBN|978-0755313051|}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Maura}}
Category:20th-century Irish women writers
Category:21st-century Irish women writers
Category:Irish women autobiographers
Category:People from Edenderry, County Offaly